Are You Really a Christian, or a Money-Changer in Disguise?

Are You Really a Christian, or a Money-Changer in Disguise?

Lots of Kansans, including our governor, claim to be Christians, but their behavior is often anything but.

Here’s a test you can take to determine whether or not you are willing to follow Jesus Christ’s advice for humanity:

1. Do you pay your taxes honestly and fairly?

Jesus (and his parents) paid the national taxes that were exacted, and advised Jews who asked him whether it was lawful for Rome to demand taxes from Jews that they should “render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21), since the money of the time, coins, had Caesar’s picture on it. American money has the word America on it somewhere, so remember to render unto America that which belongs to America.

2. Do you oppose supporting Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security—all programs designed to the help the poor and elderly, America’s most vulnerable citizens?

John, one of Jesus’ disciples, says, “But if someone who is supposed to be a Christian has money enough to live well, and sees a brother in need, and won’t help him—how can God’s love be within him? (1 John 3:18).

Timothy, whom Paul called his “own son in the faith,” had more to say on the subject: “Tell those who are rich not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which will soon be gone, but their pride and trust should be in the living God who always richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give happily to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them. By doing this they will be storing up real treasure for themselves in heaven—it is the only safe investment for eternity! And they will be living a fruitful Christian life down here as well" (1 Timothy 6-17-19).

3. Can you honestly say that you treat others who believe differently than you do with the respect and courtesy you expect them to treat you with?

According to Mark, the admonition to “love they neighbor as thyself” (Mark 12:31) is one of the two most important commandments. Mark wasn’t advocating adultery, which was against another commandment, but was pointing out that we have to be able to not only sympathize with other human beings, but also empathize with them. If we have the ability to want the best for our neighbor, no matter whether we truly like them (or their religion, politics, gender, or race) or not, we want to see them as healthy and prosperous as we are. That’s the kind of altruistic love Mark meant.

Matthew seconds Mark’s view: “I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which spitefully use you and persecute you" (Matthew 5:44).


Who were the Money-Changers?

Jewish tradition depended on ritual sacrifices. Even Abraham was willing to kill his own son to satisfy the Christian God, and even God tortures and kills his own son to supposedly show how much he “loves” humanity.

By the era when Jesus Christ was supposed to have lived, however, Judaism no longer relied on human sacrifice to satisfy their God, but used animals. Traditionally, people could bring their own animals to slaughter (which were then ritually “cleansed” by being cooked and eaten by temple priests), but most Jews were no longer farmers in Herod’s Jerusalem, so they had to buy whatever animals they could afford that would cover their own and their family’s sins for whatever period of time had transpired since the last sacrifice (this “scapegoat” idea is why some Christians believe so strongly that Jesus died for their sins). The poor tended to buy doves or chickens, while the wealthy could afford sheep, goats, and fatted calves.

The episode where Jesus drives the Money-Changers from the Temple happens at Passover—one of the holiest days in Judaism, so thousands of people were at the Temple to buy sacrificial animals to offer to appease their jealous and often angry God for any sins they might have committed and to thank God for their continuing prosperity.

Jerusalem’s Temple was the only official Jewish Temple, so everyone who was Jewish who could get there traveled there for this important ceremony and ritual sacrifice, meaning that people brought all kinds of foreign currency with them. But the sacrificial animals (and taxes required by the Jewish council) could only be paid for with shekels, a form of Jewish coin.

So the Money Changers set up tables at the Temple to exchange the foreign currency for shekels, making a huge profit off of the transactions.

So Jesus went into the Temple—one of the most sacred spaces on Earth for Jews—“and cast out all of them who sold and bought,” turning over tables “and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, it is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves” (Matthew 21: 12-13).

So…

Are You a Christian, in action and in word, or a Profiteering Money-Changer who just calls yourself a Christian?